Great time at ICAD2006 in London

Great conference and good to see a number of old friends and to make new ones. The programme was well structured and additional activities were great, including concerts.
We created a sonification of a number of concepts. Almost all sounds were recorded in Soho, some (I have to admit) were Foley, recorded in a Soho pub or in my room, edited, processed, etc.
Still, I think our sonification was the best!

The pain and joy of writing

I need to write. More. Better. Last night, I wrote several pages, long overdue, but I was really happy to have eventually done it. Today, a bit of proof reading and correction. Finally a number of really nice pages of text with a good flow. This evening though, I’m scatter-brained again. Can only write shorter things and too much angst and adrenalin flowing around. I should be too old for this. But no. I really love writing - both text and music. In fact, I really enjoy every way I can move patterns from my mind into the world, wether it’s a text, sketch, doodle, sound, music, design, or whatever. I tell you, it’s a strange state of mind, but that’s how it works. Unfortunately, the mind wants to output patterns that are not necessarily needed now, and the recipients that are filling my inbox with crap about “you must submit [this or that] yesterday, or else". Hey guys, just wait a bit and I’ll surprise you all. If you can’t wait for my excellent contributions, you don’t deserve to perceive them.

Liberating Shannon

So finally the US war machinery is starting to pull out of Shannon. There are, of course, claims that so much money was paid for every landing and refueling, but when looking at the few figures that are available, the markup seems to have been almost zero, hence there wasn’t really any contribution to the Irish economy (rather the opposite!), just flushing bad money through the system.
More important is that we should not allow any aid or abetting in the horrendous warmongery that the US is carrying out to manipulate the oil resources of the world.
I wonder if the CIA-flights (extraordinary renditions) will cease as well?

Oh Ireland in the Sun!

It's been a great weekend. Blue skies, sunshine, and about 26 degrees centigrade. I've been living more or less outdoors in the garden. A substantial amount of time went down marking exams. The rest have been relaxation and cooking, and walking the dog. They've cut the grass in the field in front of the house, and at times, sneezing and wheezing was causing problems, but thanks to antihistamines I've survived it.

Maniac Mongrels

Last night we (L, A, M and I) joined a table quiz, in support of Limerick Animal Welfare. We didn't win the quiz, but we won a free round of drink for best team name - Maniac Mongrels ;-)